Music 1421: Introduction to Digital Music, Fall 2008

Kevin Ernste, Professor
kme32@cornell.edu
Office: 108 and B27 Lincoln Hall
Studio Tel #: 255-5795

Teaching Assistant:
Christopher Stark
cas378@cornell.edu

Media Assistant:
Eric Feinstein
ehf6@cornell.edu

Course website: http://digital.music.cornell.edu

Music 1421 is an exploration of classical and state-of-the-art techniques for making music with computers.  As  such, a substantial portion of our time will be spent working with software directly, although “learning software” is not our explicit goal.  As computer software has developed, several design metaphors have emerged:  the soundfile editor, the multi-track mixer, the synthesizer, the sequencer, the modular programming environment, the audio patchbay/mixer, and several others focused on live performance.  In this course we will examine a number of these, working toward developing our own toolkits for creative work.

In addition to commercially available software, students will be introduced to a number of excellent free software tools, many with unique designs and functionality.  These tools will be made available for download on this website.  Further details will be forthcoming.

Course requirements include three composition projects, one for each of the three parts of the course (see the  semester schedule below).  The last of these will be presented at the Sound Art Forum concert at the semester's  end.  In addition, there will be weekly or bi-weekly assignments to be carried out on the student's own time.   Studios are available for this purpose and students may sign up for individual time slots.  Visit the course website and follow the “studios” link to sign up online.

Grading for the semester is broken down as follows:

10%    Class participation (make yourself heard in class and online)
10%    Oral examination
20%    Weekly/bi-weekly assignments
30%    Two mid-semester projects (15% each)
30%    Final project and performance

All work must be turned in on time.  Late work will be given one letter grade lower, beyond one week it will not be accepted.  The final performance is mandatory and non-participation results in automatic failure (participation and final project grade percentage lost).

Assignments should be turned in online in the studio network drive linked on the studio Desktops.  Within the  directory “music1421” you will see a directory with your NetID.  Turn in all pertinent files by copying them to a  new directory labeled with the assignment or project name, for example “assignment1”.

Facilities:  Studios B25B, B25C, and B25D will be our primary studios with additional workstations in the Music Library Computer Lab.  In addition, some of the software used in Music 1421 is available for use at the Uris Library CL3 (Creation Station) facility. You are encouraged to use your own systems where appropriate.

Optionally, web space is available as a relay of work to and from the studios.  Studio web traffic is closely monitored so use this benefit only if you plan to use it appropriately.  I also highly encourage regular backups of your ongoing work.  Unfortunately we still cannot depend on computer hardware particularly hard drives as the last critical devices with moving parts.

Semester Schedule

Tuesday meetings are lecture and discussion periods, exploring conceptual and compositional/musical ideas.  Thursdays will be practical, lab sessions devoted to developing skills with software and class concepts.  Thursday sessions will meet in the library teaching lab unless otherwise noted.

PART I: Digital Audio

< Week 0 — August 28th
Course Introduction and Discussion

< Week 1 — September 2nd and 4th
Digital Audio Fundamentals, Audio Recording Techniques

< Week 2 — September 9th and 11th
Audio Editing, Sample Preparation, and Soundfile Libraries
Oral Examination, Thursday September 11th: individual times to be set

< Week 3 — September 16th and 18th
Principles of Multi-track Mixing and Mastering

< Week 4 — September 23rd and 25th
Signal Processing (effects, filters, resampling, dither) Techniques

PART II: Synthesizers, Samplers, and Sequencing

< Week 5 — September 30th and October 2nd
Introduction to MIDI
Project 1 due Tuesday September 30th; Thursday project listening/discussion

< Week 6 — October 7th and 9th
Synthesizers (hardware and software)

< Week 7 — Fall Break and October 16th
Synthesizers and Sequencing, MIDI key mapping

< Week 8 — October 21st and 23rd
Advanced MIDI; Inter-application Connectivity

< Week 9 — October 28th and 30th
Hardware controllers, DIY Music, Modularity

PART III:  Composition and Performance

< Week 10 — November 4th and 6th
Live Performance Techniques, Loops, and Real-time Processing
Project 2 due Tuesday November 4th; Thursday project listening/discussion

< Week 11 — November 11th and 13th
Loops, Real-time Processing

< Week 12 — November 18th and 20th
Modular Programming and Interactivity

< Week 13 — November 25th and Thanksgiving Break
Formats, Distribution, Production, and Musical Propriety in the Digital Age

< Week 14 — December 2nd and 4th
Final thoughts, Concert Preparations; Final Project due at Sound Art Forum performance

Final Concert: Sound Art Forum, date and time TBA